My new workplace just recently, within the last month, bought a new range of IP addresses, and they came with an evil foreboding, for when I try to surf the Dope from work, it claims that my IP is banned!
Who do I talk to if I want this to be fixed?
Your employer’s IT folks. But don’t expect them to be sympathetic.
Couldn’t it be possible that the SDMB banned that IP range (for example, if a spammer previously owned the domains)?
I think aptronym is right. I would email TubaDiva if I were you, OP.
What is the nature of the message that informed you that a ban had occured?
Zeriel, please send me an email from work so I can figure out what IP range we’re talking about here. TubaDiva@aol.com.
Doubtless we banned some spammer, it’s not intended towards you.
As soon as we can ascertain your range we can reverse the ban.
Are you sure it’s the Dope banning your IP address? Maybe it’s your company banning the Dope’s IP address. Perhaps they don’t allow you to read message boards when you should be working.
Thanks to the anonymous SDMB admin who straightened this out for me after our e-mail conversation (whoever you are, webmaster@straightdope.com, you rock).
Peter:
- I AM my company’s IT folks. I am a system administration department of one.
- The CEO loves it when I’m surfing the dope because I only do it when everything is fine and nothing is ruined–that is, my dope-surfing frequency is a matter of professional pride, and I only do it when there’s nothing else I could possibly be doing.
Which is why despite nailing this down I’m not going to be posting much from work for a while, hooray for server moves.
Oh, and TubaDiva? You’re not the only one–this range used to be cable modems–I just got off the mail-abuse DUL and open-relay lists for the same reason. Words were had with my telecom provider about sanitizing stuff like that before they resell old IP blocks.
Glad it’s all resolved, Zeriel, and welcome back.
There’s a lot of reflexive thinking that goes into banning spammers and we’ve been on both sides of that issue. We’ve banned and we’ve been banned and we will doubtless do so again. We do try not to hurt our membership or our guests – legitimate users that we want to encourage – but also keep out the spam and other situations that make your experience not so pleasant.
We appreciate your patience.